Bon Jovi Recruited Shrink To Solve Band Issues

Rockers Bon Jovi have a psychiatrist to thank for their longevity - the bandmates hired 'rock shrink' Lou Cox to help them reconnect after a trying and lengthy tour in the early 1990s.

Frontman Jon Bon Jovi called on Cox's expertise after firing the band's manager Doc McGhee in 1991, and he and his bandmates have opened up about the experience in a new documentary, Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful.

Keyboard player David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres were initially reluctant to open up about their feelings, but they have no doubt Cox, who had previously counseled Aerosmith, helped keep them come together when most acts would have split.

Torres says, "He helped us a lot as a group, to be able to deal with each other... It was almost over."
Bon Jovi adds, "Aerosmith's manager... told us about this guy named Lou Cox; he had no ulterior motive, no commissions (were) involved. He came in and got us to just speak better than anyone else could have."

Bryant recalls, "I looked at it and said, 'F**king shrink, that's for sick people...' but he was just trying to get everyone to communicate and that's what he did, and it really helped us to be honest enough to go on."

Bon Jovi concludes, "He was our saving grace and that was our big secret for years and years and now Metallica made a movie like that already and the Goo Goo Dolls went to guy we sent them to." (KL/WNV/MJ)